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Exercise assisting device

Inactive Publication Date: 2010-09-02
MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC WORKS LTD
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0006]With the foregoing in view, an object of the present invention is to provide an exercise assisting device that enables the same exercising effects as those of the device described in Documents 1 and 2 to be obtained while also being able to realize a simple structure, reduce the number of components and reduce production costs.
[0007]The exercise assisting device as claimed in the present invention comprises a seat member having a bearing surface configured to support the buttocks of a user with the user's feet placed on a predetermined foot rest, and a seat drive unit configured to activate a driving source to displace the seat member in such a manner as to vary the user's own weight acting on the legs of the user, wherein the seat drive member is configured to swing the seat member at least along a lateral direction. Thus, in the device of the present invention, since the seat drive unit is only required to swing the seat member at least along the lateral direction, although motion is imparted that is accompanied by bending and stretching of the knee joint due to swinging in the lateral direction, the device can be used by ordinary users not having knee pain. In addition, since the user's feet are supported by the foot rest, the load that acts on the user's legs varies accompanying movement of the seat member in the lateral direction, thereby allowing the obtaining of exercise effects through muscle contraction of muscle groups of the thighs. Moreover, since the user is able to exercise passively as a result of the seat member being driven by the driving source, the user is able to exercise more easily than in the case of spontaneous exercise, thereby enabling the device to be used easily even by users having low exercise capacity. Since there are no restrictions other than the swinging direction of the seat member being in the lateral direction, and there are no restrictions on the foot rest with the exception of having to place the feet thereon, the device can be realized in a simple configuration. Namely, the number of components, size and price can be reduced.
[0008]The seat drive unit is preferably provided with a linear drive configured to swing the seat member along a linear path in the lateral direction. In this case, since the seat member swings along a linear path in the lateral direction, in the case of using a rotating motor for the driving source, the device can be easily realized simply by using a mechanism such as a cylindrical cam or crank that converts rotary motion to linear motion. Moreover, since the seat member moves along a linear path in the lateral direction, changes in the load that acts on the left and right legs of the user accompanying displacement of the seat member are comparatively small, thereby enabling even beginners having low exercise capacity to exercise by tightening and relaxing muscle groups of the thighs under a light load.

Problems solved by technology

However, according to the technology described in Document 1 and Document 2 above, in order to allow exercising without varying the bending angle of the knees, the device has problems that result in the use of a large number of components and large size, such as restrictions on the direction of movement of the seat member and the need for a mechanism to vary the positions of the feet accompanying swinging of the seat member.

Method used

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  • Exercise assisting device
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Examples

Experimental program
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first embodiment

[0027]An exercise assisting device in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention includes, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a base 10 mounted at a fixed position on an installation site such as a floor, and a frame 11 upstanding from the base 10. A seat member 12 is located upwardly of the frame 11 for supporting buttocks of a user M with a seat drive unit 13 interposed between the frame 11 and the seat member 12 for swinging the seat member 12. A structure of the seat drive unit 13 will be explained later.

[0028]When using this exercise assisting device, as shown in FIG. 1, the feet are placed on a foot rest using a ground surface such as a floor as a foot rest, and while in this state, the user M's own weight that acts on his or her legs is varied by causing the seat member 12 to swing. When the seat member 12 is swung back and forth with the user M's feet placed on the foot rest and the knee joints bent, since the knees are bent in advance in the manner of squat exercis...

second embodiment

[0042]Although an example of a configuration in which the seat member 12 moves along a linear path in the lateral direction was indicated in the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, swinging of the seat member 12 may be made to include a pitching operation by adding a fore-aft drive 20b, which displaces the seat member 12 in the lengthwise direction, to the configuration of the first embodiment. The pitching operation is not carried out independently, but rather is interlocked with lateral displacement of the seat member 12. In other words, in the present embodiment, since the seat member 12 is displaced in the lengthwise direction in addition to linear reciprocal movement in the lateral direction, changes in the load acting on the legs of the user can be increased in comparison with that of the configuration of the first embodiment,

[0043]The fore-aft drive 20b includes a pitch axle 27a provided at a linking mechanism 27 of linking the slider 25 and the seat member 12, and a pitch ...

third embodiment

[0047]Although an example of a configuration in which the seat member 12 moves along a linear path in the lateral direction was indicated in the first embodiment, the present invention is configured so that rolling is included in swinging of the bearing surface 12a of the seat member 12 by relatively changing the heights on the left and right sides of the bearing surface 12a of the seat member 12. In addition, although the present embodiment includes the fore-aft drive 20b that displaces the seat member 12 in the lengthwise direction as in the second embodiment, a configuration can also be employed in which the fore-aft drive 20b is omitted and only rolling is carried out independently.

[0048]Thus, as shown in FIGS. 10 to 12, the present embodiment has for the basic configuration thereof the configuration of the linear drive 20a shown in the first embodiment, but instead of linearly moving the seat member 12 in the lateral direction, is provided with the inclination drive 20c that co...

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PUM

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Abstract

The invention has an object of providing an exercise assisting device which allows the user's thigh to contract while having a simple structure with low manufacturing cost. The device comprising a seat member and a seat drive unit. The seat member has a bearing surface configured to support buttocks of a user with one' feet placed on a predetermined foot rest. The seat drive unit is configured to activate a driving source to displace the seat member in such a manner as to vary a user's own weight acting on legs of the user. The seat drive unit swings the seat member at least along a lateral direction.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The present invention relates to a passive exercise assisting device that varies a user's own weight that acts on the legs of the user by displacing a seat member using a driving source with the user's feet placed on a foot rest and the user's buttocks supported by the seat member.BACKGROUND ART[0002]Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-58733 (Document 1) and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-89650 (Document 2) propose an exercise assisting device that tightens and relaxes muscle groups of the thighs without hardly any bending or stretching of the knees by displacing a seat member provided therein with the feet of a user placed on a foot rest and the buttocks of the user supported by a bearing surface of the seat member. This exercise assisting device varies the user's own weight that acts on the legs by displacing the position of the seat member to vary the proportion of the user's body weight that supports the seat member.[0003]According...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): A63B26/00
CPCA63B21/00178A63B21/00181A63B2208/0233A63B69/04A63B23/0405
Inventor SHINOMIYA, YOUICHIOZAWA, TAKAHISAOCHI, KAZUHIRO
Owner MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC WORKS LTD